I Got You!

Have you ever had anything happen where you thought "oh no, this isn't going to end well." Then all of a sudden you hear God's voice or feel God's presence saying "I got you." "You're going to be okay, trust Me!" I have had that happen several times during my walk with Jesus the last eighteen years. The most recent was when my brakes went out on my van and I had to blow through a red light, with cars lined up on both sides. As chaotic as that was, I could just feel the presence of Jesus saying to me, "I got you." And He did. Nothing bad came out of it. No accident, no damage to person or vehicle, nothing!

Psalm 121:8 New Living Translation

8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

I'm always thankful for His watchful eye and arms of protection. Even when things do go sideways, it could always be worse without Jesus being involved! He has protected me time and time again. I know it's Him, because if it were me, I would have ended myself years ago! Sometimes I do not make good choices in life. That's why I trust in Jesus, and not myself. My way will end up in destruction.

Proverbs 3:4-5 Living Bible

4-5 If you want favor with both God and man, and a reputation for good judgment and common sense, then trust the Lord completely; don’t ever trust yourself.

It's been like this from the day I said yes to Jesus. As soon as I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior, I could feel him saying to me, "I got you!"

Though I may stumble and fall, He is still faithful to me.

Psalm 37:24 New Living Translation

24 Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.

God has gotten good at picking me up when I stumble and fall. Picks me up, dusts me off and tells me to keep moving forward, He has work for me to do.

Psalm 73:23 Amplified Bible

23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand.

So I encourage you today. No matter what may come against you or something that you are going through, hear God saying "I got you!"

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Other Plans.

 I bought this t-shirt last August when I saw Ben Fuller perform at Helmar Palooza. He has a song by the same title. Very powerful. Take a listen to it if you can. When I saw this shirt it triggered me to think about all the things that God as saved me from or protected me from. He has other plans for me. Things that I had no idea about. If you would have told me years and years ago that I would become a pastor in the future, I would have asked you what you were drinking!! He had other plans!

The fact that I am still breathing today is by the grace of God. I have done plenty of stupid things in my life that could/should have ended me. But here I am. Thanks to God! He had other plans!

I was wearing this shirt the other night when I went to make a hospital visit in Aurora. On my way home, just a little south of Elburn, I was approaching the intersection of 47 and Main St. The light was red, so I went to apply my breaks, only to discover they weren't there. Nothing, nada, gone! I started freaking out to say the least. I was approaching the intersection at over 50MPH with no signs of slowing down! I went to move the gear shifter into neutral to try and take some of the power away from the drive. Nothing. Lever did not move at all. Dear Jesus, take control. I had no idea what to do in that moment. As a last ditch effort, I tried the gear shifter one more time. With all the force I could muster, I was able to shift all the way up into park. Whew! Nope, van kept moving. Even in park! So I prepared to blast through the intersection. I started blowing my horn and flashing my lights to let everyone know that I was not stopping. Then, I prepared for impact. For a car coming from the other direction, or a car turning left onto Main St. 

I made it through the intersection without an incident. No crash, nobody got hurt, Praise Jesus! It took me over a mile to get stopped, with the van in park. I coasted to a stop on the shoulder and called a tow truck. No way I was going to attempt that again. So they came in hooked my up and towed my van back to DeKalb. As they were hooking up to the van, one of the workers noticed my shirt and said that he liked it. I had forgotten what I was wearing, so I looked down. Yep, I told him. God sure does have other plans. Things could have gone much worse than what happened, but God was with me and protected me.

I started praising God for everything. I praised Him for getting me to stop on a very wide shoulder of road. I praised Him for when it happened. It happened at 9:30 at night. Not much traffic out at that time. If it had happened at 5:30 in the afternoon, things would have been much different. I praised Him for the tow truck getting there quickly. Despise what happened, everything went extremely well afterword. I give God thanks for that. 

I don't know what His plan is for this happening, but I'm sure it is for somebody I know. I have been telling everyone about what God did for me in that moment! He gets all the praise, glory and honor. I did nothing but hold on for dear life!

Psalm 28:7 New Living Translation

7 The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving

I was mentally shaken up, but otherwise fine. God had His arms of protection around me, once more. He never fails and His timing is never late!

Psalm 55:22 Living Bible

22 Give your burdens to the Lord. He will carry them. He will not permit the godly to slip or fall.

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Anxious Anticipation!

 Does anyone remember the ketchup commercial from the '70's about anticipating the ketchup coming out of the bottle onto your food or plate or where ever? It was for Heinz ketchup and the people in the commercial were anxiously anticipating it because it was supposed to be the best ketchup and they couldn't wait to get it out of the bottle. I remember that commercial like it was yesterday! I remember the jingle as well.

How about when you order something online and you anxiously anticipate the delivery of the product that you bought. You want it delivered right now, but you have to wait. And sometimes you have to wait and wait and wait. Then wait some more. It's frustrating to have to wait so long. When it finally arrives, oh the rejoicing that you do. You pick it up out of the mail box or off of the porch depending on how it was delivered. You hug it, say to it that you have waited so long for it to come and now it is finally here. Or is that just me!

How about a concert that you bought tickets to? Sometimes I get my tickets several months in advance and then do the waiting thing! Keep looking at the calendar asking "is it time yet?" Only to be let down that you have awhile more to wait. Ugh!

This could be said about anything cool. A birthday, any holiday, a day off of work, having family visit. You anxiously anticipate the event to come. Then when it does, you rejoice.

There is one event that I wish more people were more anxiously anticipating. The return of Jesus! That is THE ONE event that I am really anticipating to happen. Oh, what rejoicing we'll do when that happens. To be free of the problems of this world. To be present with Jesus, forever!

Revelation 21:4 English Standard Version

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Here is the thing though. Unlike sitting around anticipating delivery of the goods that we order, we are not to sit around idly waiting for Jesus return. He has work for us to do until He returns.

He wants us to remain watchful.

He wants us to continue to witness to others.

We are to keep worshipping.

To walk in obedience.

We are to work for The Kingdom, until Jesus return.

Titus 2:12-13 New Living Translation

12 And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, 13 while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed.

As much as you love seeing the mailman or door dash or the Amazon driver walking up your sidewalk, I can not wait to see Jesus coming towards me with an outstretched arm. That is what I am anxiously anticipating!

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Second Chances!

 Do I believe that God is a God of second chances? This question has been asked a lot of me recently with some of the things going on in the world.

That question started me thinking about that. Is God a God of second chances?

The answer is, of course He is.

Did He give King David a second chance after his affair with Bathsheba? (2 Samuel 11:2-5)

Didn't He give the Samaritan woman at the well a second chance? (John 4:1-42)

He gave Jonah a second chance after he ran away. (Luke 11:30)

How about Peter? After denying he even knew Jesus three times, he was given a second chance. (Matthew 16:18)

Paul was persecuting Christians up until His trip to Damascus! There came his second chance! (Acts 9:1-19)

As I was pondering the response to this question, a song started playing from my play list. Shocker, I know!

It is a song by the band White Cross. The title is ironically titled "No Second Chances." The song is about a man named Lazarus and rich man. Lazarus was a beggar who laid outside the rich mans gate. They both died and Lazarus went to Heaven and the rich man went to hell. (Luke 16:19-31)

As the song goes, the rich man is asking for one more chance to make things right. To be able to go back and warn his brothers of what will happen if they deny Jesus.

You see, once you die, there are no more second chances to make things right. You're either right with Jesus before you breathe your last or you're not! After you pass away, there are no more second chances!

You either spend eternity with Jesus in Heaven, or eternity with Satan and the torment of Hell. You can't cross from one to the other. What is done is done! No going back!

I know that God has given me a second chance for a new life in Him. I was one way, and now I am another. I thank Him for that, daily!

So I urge you tonight to think about your life. The choices you make today have consequences for the future. Once they are made and you happen to pass away, you will not get a second chance!

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Epic Failure!!

So the Newsboys lead singer Michael Tait has been in the news with a moral failure of epic proportions! He has been accused of some horrific things and has admitted to doing them. And now some more accusations have come out implicating some of the crew for the band as well. The whole situation makes me sick to my stomach. I can't believe a person with that kind of high profile would do such horrendous things. If you look back over the course of history, many people in a high profile position have had epic moral failures. King David. The Samaritan woman at the well. Peters denial. Paul's past. How about more recently? Jim Baker. Robert Morris. The list can go on and on. It is by no means exhaustive!

My point is that Mr. Tait is not the first high profile person to have moral failure. He is just the latest. Unfortunately there will be more. It's just our human nature!

Romans 3:23 English Standard Version

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

What I don't understand is now K Love and other radio stations are dropping the Newsboys from their playlists. Their record label has dropped them. Because of one persons actions. The whole band has not been accused, just the one member. So why punish the whole band?

Isn't that passing judgement?  

Matthew 7:3 New Living Translation

3 “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?

I wonder how many of the music programmers working for these stations are sin free? How many of the people working at the record label are sin free? I'm going to go out on a limb and say "none".

I'm not condoning what Mr. Tait has done. It is horrendous to say the least. But don't judge his sin because he sinned differently than you. Sin is sin. No matter how big or small "we" think it is. It is still sin in God's eye!

Aren't we supposed to walk with our brothers and sisters in Christ when they stumble or fall? See that they get the help that they need. Repent and turns from their sin. Not abandon them in their hour of need. That seems un-Christ like to me.

1 Peter 5:10 Living Bible

10 After you have suffered a little while, our God, who is full of kindness through Christ, will give you his eternal glory. He personally will come and pick you up, and set you firmly in place, and make you stronger than ever.

If Michael Tait came through the door of our church, I would hug him, tell him I am praying for him and offer whatever help I could. I would not shame him, or shun him! Jesus used all the people mentioned above after their epic sins against Him. He can do the same for Michael Tait!

Let's show the love of Jesus, even to the ones who have committed an epic failure.

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Twisted Flags.

 The company I work for have three flags that fly over the main entrance. One is the American flag, one is the State of Illinois and the other is the DeKalb county flag. The hang on three different poles sticking out of the side of the building. The are always blowing around and getting tangled and wrapped up with each other. I have noticed these flags everyday for the last thirteen years. I have seen them get tangled and then untangled! It is a constant struggle to keep them from doing this. Can't really control the wind. How hard it blows and in which direction.

Anyway............

I'm walking across the parking lot from my van this week to go to punch in. I look up at the flags, like I said I have done everyday for the last thirteen years. But today they hit me different. Not sure why, but God was speaking to me through those flags.

He had me notice that they were tangled and wrapped up in each other more than usual. I thought that was weird.

God was like "isn't this like my children?" "Walking straight and righteous when all of sudden a gust of wind will whip up and get them tangled and wrapped up in sin!" How many times have we heard something different that goes against what we know is true, so we think that we'll give that a try and all of a sudden here comes the gale of wind. Blowing us this way and that way. Next thing we know, we are intwined, wrapped, tangled in a situation that we know better to be in.

Romans 7:15 Amplified Bible

15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate [and yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity].

If we are grounded in Christ and His word, no matter how hard or what direction the wind blows, we will not be swayed!! We will stay straight and true! Not saying the winds won't come or the storms, they will trust me but, we have Jesus to lean on!

Ephesians 4:14 New Living Translation

14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.

To get the flags untangled and straightened around, our maintenance dept. has to go out with a scissor lift and fix them.

We don't need a maintenance dept to fix our problem. We have the ultimate fixer in Jesus! He is our savior. No matter how hard or which direction the wind blows. He fixes us with His unfailing grace and mercy.

I encourage you to get grounded in Christ, so that when the winds and storms do come, you have the ultimate anchor to hold you in place, JESUS!

God bless.

Rev. Kev.

Remember That One Time.

 We have been learning at church the last few weeks about memorials. When God did something for someone, they would build an altar of memorial. To remind them of what God has done for them. They would gather 12 stones, one for each tribe of Israel and pile them up to make an altar to The Lord, to mark the place where a miracle happened. When the younger generation would pass by and see this memorial they would ask what it was for. The older generation would tell them "remember that one time?" "When God did this for us."

They did this when God stopped the Jordan river so the Israelites could cross to the other side.

Joshua 4:6-7 New Living Translation

6 We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 7 Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”

An altar is a physical reminder of God's faithfulness. Our memories can fade as we get older, but with these physical altars to look at, it will remind us again "remember that one time!"

What kind of altars do you erect in this modern world? I'm sure gathering stones has gone by the wayside, but there are other ways to build an altar to remind of what God has done for us.

How about dates on a calendar? You have specific dates circled or highlighted. Some special date that God did something for you. Or came through for you in a mighty way. People can see the dates that you have circled or highlighted and ask you what those dates mean to you. Oh, let me tell you what God did for me on those dates.

Dec 2: Proposed to my girlfriend. She said yes.

May 31: Got custody of my daughter.

May 15: Bought our first house.

July 22: My salvation day. The day that I said yes to The Lord!

I could go on and on but I think that you get the idea. All of these dates are my memorial altars. Days I can reflect on "remember that one time!"

Psalm 77:11-12 New Living Translation

11 But then I recall all you have done, O Lord, I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago. 12 They are constantly in my thoughts. I cannot stop thinking about your mighty works.

So I encourage you to remember all that God has done for you and in some special way, make something to remember that date. It will be a constant reminder of God's faithfulness.

God bless.

Rev. Kev.